Folding handle for stereoscopes.



v PATENTED MAY 14, 1907 H. 0. WHITE & G. S. BEAGH. FOLDING HANDLE FOR STEREOSGOPES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 28, 1905.

HA. W'LEY 5'. WHITE.

WITNESSES,

CHARLES S. .EEAEII g j BY THEIR. ATTURNE'Y,-

THE NOIRRIS PmERs'ccn, wasiamdmu, n c

HAWLEY C. WHITE, OF NORTH BENNINGTON, AND CHARLES S. BEACH, OF .BENNINGTON, VERMONT, ASSIGNORS TO H. C. WHITE 00., OF NORTH BENNINGTON, VERMONT, A CORPORATION OF VERMONT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 14, 1907.

Application filed November 28, 1905. Serial No. 289,432.

To all whom, it new concern.-

Be it known that we, HAWLEY C. WHITE, of North Bennington, in the county of Bennington and State of Vermont, and CHARLES S. BEACH, of Bennington, in said county and State, have jointly invented a new and useful Improvement in Folding Handles for stereoscopes, of which invention the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, constitutes a specification.

This invention is applicable to hand stereoscopes which are provided with a hinged handle which may be turned down when not in use and for convenience in packing.

It relates to special means for locking the handle in a definite position positively, so

} that it cannot be turned on its hinge pivot in provement shown in Fig. 4.

either direction until it has been positively unlocked.

The invention is fully disclosed in the drawing wherein Figure 1 shows a side elevation, partly in longitudinal vertical section, of an ordinary hand stereoscope with our improvements attached thereto. Fig. 2 shows a bottom plan of such a stereoscope with the handle de-- tached; Fig. 3 is a front edge view of the im- Fig. 4 shows a modified construction of the invention. Fig. 5 is a plan view of the under side of our improved lockspring. Fig. 6 is a vertical transverse section of the female member of the hinge detached fromthe stereoscope shaft.

As the stereoscopes to which these folding handles are usually attached are of the ordinary pattern adapted to be held in the hand, consisting of a shaft, view-holder, lens frame, septum and hood, constructed in a well understood manner substantially as shown in the drawings, no detailed description thereof is necessary. In the drawings the shaft of such a stereoscope is shown at S. To the under side of this shaft a handle H, is hinged by means of a shanked disk B, having a tang which is driven into the handle as seen in.

dotted lines in Fig. 4, which disk is pivoted between two cheeks 7c, and 7c, of the base .mortise in a spring as explained further on.

The female member A, of the combination consists of a base plate struck up from sheet 7 parts and heading it down so as to secure the requisite pinch of the cheeks upon the disk B. A,special feature, however, of this base plate consists in the design of the wings j, j, which are bent down at a right angle to the plate A, a sufficient distance to form a receptacle between them for the lock-spring O, presently to be described. The walls of the wings are parallel to facilitate adjustment of this spring and to act as guides for the correct movement of its spring-leaf catch which vibrates between them.

The lock-spring C is provided for locking the folding handle in proper position for using the stereoscope. This spring is preferably made from sheet metal plate of suitable spring temper, although it may be made from any suitable material, and is perforated with a screw. hole which registers with a screw hole in the base plate for the reception of a screw by which it is attached to the stereoscope shaft. It is bent or folded upon itself as at 6, thus making of its under fold a leaf spring. This leaf is perforated as at f,

for the passage of a screw driver to turn the screw directly beneath it, and its edges are rabbeted as at i, e, i, to receive the wings j, j, of the base plate. These shoulders 11, i, i, serve to keep the leaf in correct position and prevent endwise movement. This feature serves to keep the detent mortise 0, in correct registration with the detent n, of the shank disk B. The heads of the mortise 0, are squarely cut to fit the similarly fitted edges of the detent n, of the disk. This feature is to prevent the turning of the detent out of engagement with the spring without positively lifting the spring out of engagement therewith. Springs provided with V- shaped tappets to engage V-shaped notches for like purposes are common, but with the latter device disengagement may be effected by forcibly turning the handle without. in any way manipulating the spring. The

square-edged detent and square-headed mortise of the spring prevent such easy disengagement. The modification of these devices seen in Fig. 4 shows the mortise and detent transposed, the disk B being indented as at q, there being a detent p on the spring, but the square contact points between them are sh own.

The disk shank having been driven into the handle the parts are assembled by placing the disk in position between the cheeks 7c, 7c, inserting the rivet m and heading it down. The spring is then put in position between the wings j, and the screw holes brought into registration with each other and with the position it is to occupy on the under side of the shaft. Then the screws are inserted and the fixture thus firmly attached to the stereoscope.

The spring is unlocked by taking the handle in one hand and forcing the end of the thumb up under the under side of the leaf spring thus lifting the leaf up out of engagement with the detent a, into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, when the handle may be freely turned in either direction.

We therefore claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent the fol lowing:

1. A hinge fitting for attaching a folding handle to a stereoscope, consisting of a base plate having lateral Wings bent up at right angles with the base thus forming a spring receptacle between them, each wing terminating in a hinge cheek, a disk pivoted between said cheeks provided with means for its attachment to-a handle and having a peripheral detent with sqn are contact terminals, in combination with a leaf spring held within said receptacle provided with a mortise having square heads to receive said. detent with which the terminals of the detent contact for effecting a locked engagement between them, substantially as specified.

2. The combination with the base plate having the wings of the leaf spring having a recessed edge 9, for the reception of one of said wings, substantially as specified.

3. The combination with the base plate having the wings j, of the dentated disk B. and the mortised leaf spring having the shoulders i, i, substantially as specified.

4. A hinge fitting for attaching a folding handle to a stereoseope, consisting of a base plate having lateral wings bent down at right angles with the base, thus forming a receptacle between them having parallel side walls, each. wing terminating in a hinge cheek, a disk pivoted between said checks provided with means for its attachment to a handle, and a U-shaped leaf spring held within said receptacle having means to eo-operate with saidv disk to lock the handle in a definite position, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at North Bennington. Vt, in the presence of two witnesses.

HAW'] E Y (7. W ll l'l ID. CHARLES S. BEACH. VVi tnesses EMILY Soor'r, FRANKLIN SCOTT. 

